Christmas day

We had a wonderful Christmas. Colin woke up super early (as usual) and couldn't understand for a while why he had to be quiet since he knew his aunts (sarah and mary) were home. My brother (Ensign Gouger now!) and Angela came over later in the afternoon as well as Grandma and Hoooowwwward (as Colin calls his great grandpa) And angela and James brought their dog AJ! Notice the picture on the right as Colin proudly waves his daddy's Redskin flags with sheer jubilee! His dad said he is always going to remind him where his loyalties lie! His Redskins look (hope) to be playoff bound after this weekend.



It was a day filled with fun and lots of presents. Colin got his train (wooo woooo) and now has to carry it around everywhere. Mary gave him a Thomas dvd so now we watch Thomas all the time. In fact, Colin dreamed of trains that night. He had a hard time sleeping - probably due to all the excitement of the day. But as we're rocking in the glider in his room, I hear him begin to talk in his sleep. At first I thought he had woken up since I had just gotten him back to sleep. But he begins to go - "wooo wooo" - and then "i don't know" followed by an "uh oh" (in the Thomas video a train goes off the track and Colin always goes uh oh) I wish I knew what he was dreaming! Colin also got this huge dump truck. He is really into trucks and the funny thing is that right after he opens the truck, he starts driving it all over the house, but had to first make a pit stop in the living room. There he opens his truck book Santa brought him, flips through it and then proceeds on his way. I guess he had to make sure he was driving the truck right!

Merry Christmas

candy!!!!

Notice a theme here? We learned for next year to put the gingerbread house together first before getting the candy and Colin together. That way next year he hopefully won't eat as much candy. But he LOVED it and our house is still standing (for the moment)

Santa

Last year Colin loved Santa (as you'll recall if you go back to our December archives). This year it was a different story. Probably because the Santa last year was the REAL Santa and this one was obviously Santa's helper. This one didn't even have a real beard! But Santa and Mrs. Clause were great and the elves played with Colin while we were in line. Colin had a great time until we were next. Then he started inching AWAY from Santa and Mrs. Clause and moved toward the exit. Luckily Mommy caught him and we were able to tell Mrs. Clause what he wanted (he went wooo wooooo which in Colin language means train) But then we got close to Santa and he didn't think much of him. Not even sitting on mommy's lap. But at the end he did blow Santa kisses. And we just got back from a walk around the block were there are several Santa's outside and he waved hi to them so I guess we didn't scar Colin with taking him to meet Santa.

outside christmas lights

This morning we woke up to a beautiful day - 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. (We are really loving being back in VA especially since our little boy loves to be outside all the time) Since it was so nice Colin and I went for a bike ride. And unfortunately we had to turn back around almost as soon as we started because of everyones outdoor decorations. At first Colin kept going UH-OH.... UH-OH since the lights weren't turned on but then we passed several houses where the blow up Santa's weren't blown up and looked like they had died. That greatly distressed Colin and he tried to climb off the bike and kept blowing kisses to the houses .Usually that is an indication that he wants to go home- but probably this time he wanted to give the Santa's some extra loving to try to fix him. For Colin, kisses fix most everything as he kisses his trucks when they fall and especially when he bumps any body part we have to kiss it several times. So we turned back around and thankfully we found a cat to play with on the way home and Colin forgot about the dead Santa's. We probably wont go on a bike ride until after all the Christmas decorations are put away.

uh - oh

Colin just loves our christmas trees. He walks in the room and goes "ooooo" when he see them and get really excited when the lights are turned on. He likes to look at all the ornaments and points them all out to us. He also loves the bubble lights my parents have on the trees. You can always hear him going Uh-OH all day and pointing to the lights because the lights aren't turned on. He doesn't understand why they aren't on all day. He then has to look the trees over and make sure every light is on and bubbling properly. Next year we'll have to get our own bubble lights (hopefully our house will have sold by then) He also likes to look at the stockings and really likes Aunt Angela's for some reason. Probably because there is glitter on it.

presents

Is this present for me?

Colin noticed this present under the tree and thought it would be fun to wear.

lawn mower

We have mentioned Colin's love for lawnmowers before but here is a glimpse into every day. As soon as he gets up in the morning he is usually asking to go outside and mow the lawn. He makes his lawnmower noise and also pretends to start the lawnmower. He takes his arm and pretends to pull the string 3 times. I'm not sure why its 3 times but he's very cute doing it. His new thing is to have mommy take the lawnmower, pretend to start the mower (this is a very important step in the game), and chase him around the yard. We're both ready for naps by the time its over.... well at least mommy is ready for one!

arts and crafts

Colin has been to a few different christmas kids events and has come home with some very fun crafts. His first was the christmas mouse that is proudly hung on the tree. (colin likes to take it down and show people) He then made the reindeer the other day and loved it so much he wanted to make another one. I love the position of rudolph's nose on the first one! He's our little picasso! Some of you might get one for Christmas.... a Colin original.

mama, dada, baby, baaaaa

Now that Christmas is near, Colin has found the nativity set very facinating. At first he had to learn what "gentle" meant as he promtly took off Joseph's head. (Joseph has been put back together with glue) But since then he has been gentle or at least tried his best. He loves to take the sheep and go "baaaaa baaaa baaaa." He also likes to take inventory of all the people and point to Mary and says 'mama', Baby Jesus is "baby" and Joseph is "dada." He isn't sure what to make of the shephard or the wise men but he does know they aren't Baby Jesus' dada. There are days I hear him saying "mama, dada, baby, baaaa" over and over.

On another note: he loves to answer most questions with "yeah" or "there"(which sounds like dare sometimes) depending on what you ask him.